Reflecting the unique nature of the Torres Strait Islands, the title of a new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia incorporates the word for "home" in the region's three Indigenous languages.

The exhibition also examines the stories of Eddie Koiki Mabo's native title battle, the violent early interaction between Captain William Bligh and Tudu Island warriors, and the service of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion during World War II.

"What we're trying to do for the visitor is give them the ability to move through time and space in the Torres Strait," Curator Jonathan Lineen said.

"We've really chosen one particular story or one particular time in each of the island groups, so it's an accessible history, it's a way for the general population to get a view of the Torres Strait Islands."

Mr Lineen said the exhibition marked a complete changeover of the museum's Torres Strait Islander gallery.

"This exhibition will challenge visitors' pre-conceptions about the Torres Strait," he said.

"In previous reincarnations of this particular gallery we've looked at a specific time or a specific feature of the Torres Strait Islands, but with this exhibition we wanted to give a much broader overview of the history and the culture."

The Torres Strait encompasses more than 200 islands, spread across some 48,000 square kilometres.

The southernmost island lies just off the tip of Cape York, while the northernmost is only 3.5 kilometres off the Papua New Guinean coast.

"We have this feeling, especially in the south-east of Australia, that we're completely isolated, that our closest neighbours are hundreds of kilometres away, but that's actually not true," Mr Lineen said.

"The Torres Strait Islands are that gateway to the north, but they're also that gateway to Melanesian culture - which is something that's been flowing into Australia for a millennium now."

You have no doubt been hearing a lot about the Paris Agreement and know that it pertains to climate change, but are too embarrassed at this stage to ask for an overall explanation of what it's all about.